Go Gentle: Oprah's Book Club
Go Gentle: Oprah's Book Club
by Maria Semple
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About the Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB • “For all those who crave a good page-turner, this is one wild ride of a story that carries equal parts wit and wisdom. I learned so much about Stoicism—I laughed out loud for real. And underneath the humor there was always something tender . . . a quiet truth about relationships, identity, and what it means to find peace with yourself.”—OPRAH WINFREY
“Maria Semple is a treasure.” —Los Angeles Times
The New York Times bestselling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette returns to form in her most exuberant and life-affirming novel yet with the story of one woman’s cheerful determination to live a life of the mind only to have the heart force its way in.
Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a “coven”—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger.
Soon, her ordered world is upended by black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and international intrigue . . . and her past—which she has worked so hard to bury—lands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and she’ll risk everything to get it.
Adora Hazzard’s journey of self-discovery will grip you from the start. Romantic, hilarious, intelligent, and bursting with the stuff of life, Go Gentle is a thrilling story of one woman’s mid-life transformation, cementing Maria Semple in the pantheon of our most exciting and important contemporary writers.
About the Author
Maria Semple is the bestselling author of Today Will Be Different, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, and This One Is Mine. Her novels have been translated into forty languages. Before writing fiction, Maria wrote for TV. She lives in New York.
Editorial Reviews
A Most Anticipated Book of 2026
The New York Times • The Washington Post • Harper’s Bazaar • TIME • BBC • Parade • Seattle Times • Lit Hub • Book Riot • Booklist • BookBub • Minnesota Star Tribune • Bookpage • Forbes • SheReads
“In her new novel, her fourth, a divorced woman named Adora Hazzard is enjoying life with her teenage daughter and a ‘coven’ of friends on the same floor of her building on New York’s Upper West Side. She is not looking for love, and so Semple gives it to her, sparking events that show off the author’s trademark hilarious chaos.” –The Washington Post
“Semple blends intrigue, humor, and irony into a story that splits open one character’s life and might just inspire you to make yours a little bigger too.”–Harper’s Bazaar
“The best-selling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette blends the sensual with the sinister in a romp through the museums and maisonettes of genteel Manhattan.”–TIME
“Now this, my friends, is what we call aromp….[T]his one’s plot has twists and turns in abundance, as [Adora] Hazzard certainly earns her last name in a series of, dare I say, shenanigans, animated always by a subtle, irrepressible joie de vivre.”–NPR
“The author of the smash hit Where’d You Go, Bernadette returns with a glittering new novel…A delightful page-turner.”–People (Book of the Week)
“[A] hard-charging escapade that’s equal parts screwball comedy, international-intrigue caper, and feminist comeuppance story.”–New Yorker
“Semple is great at writing women on the edge, characters with seemingly perfect lives who are secretly about to crack, so I can’t wait to see what she does with this one.”–Lit Hub
“Maria Semple is a truly American author who sees the pathos, chaos and humor in each episode, in each character’s needs and wants…GO GENTLE is hard to put down — and the final events will stay with readers long after the last page is turned. This is the perfect book for spring, a time for renewal and recharging.”
Bookreporter
“Funny, tender, mysterious, clever…Semple entertains in every moment of this smart story of Greek philosophy and Greek statues; desire, happiness, and their opposites; and priceless midlife peace… Readers will have hearts in their eyes to see her first new novel in a decade.”–Booklist (Starred Review)
“A love story like no other… a totally original, madcap adventure.”–Real Simple
“Semple delivers an energetic caper about a woman who gets roped into blue-blooded family drama and a potential smuggling scheme… Semple’s writing is as limber as ever… There’s plenty to enjoy in this rollicking adventure.”–Publishers Weekly
“A joyful, madcap novel, Go Gentle puts 50-something women in New York City at center stage — with philosophy, art, parenting, dark secrets, and international intrigue jostling restlessly in the wings. These ladies are far more lively and youthful than Truman Capote’s swans; it’s a new world…. There is a delightful spark in the way all the characters come alive in a Maria Semple novel.” —Boston Globe
“Go Gentleis a thoroughly fun and raucous read that richly explores the wisdom that comes with middle age and the tradeoff between being content and taking chances.” —BookPage
“In April, Where’d You Go, Bernadette author Maria Semple returns with another off-beat tale, Go Gentle, this time about a contented divorcée whose life suddenly starts to unravel.” —BBC
“From the bestselling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette comes another thought-provoking tale about following your own path.” —Woman’s World
“This is a book by the brilliant Maria Semple, folks, so the mayhem is the most fun part…it’s an absolute blast.” —Town & Country
“Delightfully zany” —New York Post